Forever
by Haylie Jenee
Summary: Haylie Jenee is 16, and out on her own. After leaving home, she finds herself meeting teenage My Chemical Romance, and her life changes... T for language. (hasn't been undated for a bit, but NOT ABANDONED)
1. Leaving

"I don't care if you've already paid for it, Haylie! You are not going to that boarding school!" My mom shouted at me.

"Why not?" I screamed back at her.

"Because I said so!"

"I already have everything set up! I. Am. Going!"

"You're only sixteen! You cannot go by yourself."

"Mom, it's a freaking boarding school! Of course I can go by myself." That's the point. I added silently.

"Well that doesn't matter, because you're not going anyway."

"Ugh! Whatever!"

I'd had this fight with my mom so many times, and there was no way in hell that I was giving in. The first day of school at Twilight River Academy was the day after tomorrow, and since my best friend and I wanted to get there tomorrow, we had to leave tonight. Not a problem.

I turned and stomped up the stairs defiantly.

"You get back here young lady!" My mom ordered.

Why? Are you not done yelling at me yet? I thought towards her as I walked away.

When I got to my room, I slammed and locked my door so she wouldn't bug me anymore. I had everything I needed for my escape.

Rummaging through my unnecessaily big closet, I found my 5 piece orange suitcase kit and ripped them open angrily, still aggravated from my fight with my mom.

All my skinny jeans, consisting of practically colour/print you can think of, went in the first bag, along with all of the shirts that would fit, making sure a specific few got in there. The second bag was any other clothes that would fit, especially my shoes.

In the back to the closet was my jar full of money on the top shelf behind anything and everything. I'd been saving since I was eleven, when I first had the ideas of ditching this hell hole as soon as I could. I'd gotten to 14,000, even after paying for the school.

That was stuffed into bag number three, along with my bathroom stuff and a few books. I silently thanked God I had my own bathroom.

There was a hesitant knock on my door. "Haylie?" It was my little sister, Sara.

"Sara? What the hell do you want?"

"Um... I-I... Can I come in?" She stuttered. I was never harsh with her, and she was kind of a wimp anyway.

I sighed. Should I trust my 8 year old sister not to tell her mommy about me running away? After some serious consideration, I hurried to my door, unlocked it, yanked her by her wrist, and closed the door and locked it behind her.

"What was that for?" She complained.

"Sorry, I don't really want Mom in here right now."

"Why?"

"I'm not really in the best mood with her. Plus... she'd keep me from packing."

"Oh, you're leaving then, right?"

"Yeah, Sara, I'm sorry." I said again, and continued packing, stuffing in my laptop, iPod Touch, cell phone, portable DVD player, school stuff, and so on. My roll up ladder was in the closet too, and I hung it out the window after retrieving it. It was a lot easier than lowering myself down with all these bags. I dropped my suitcases quietly out the window and carefully lowered my acoustic guitar in it's case down after. After putting my car keys in my pocket, I turned to Sara and crouched down so I could look her straight in the eye.

"I want you to listen to me for a second, Sara. Don't tell Mom about any of this, alright? She doesn't need to know anything, nothing at all. Not like she'd care too much anyway," I added to myself. "Do you understand?" I asked. She nodded. "Good, thank you. I need to go pick up Alex. I love you." I hugged her tightly for a few seconds and told her to go back to her room. When she was gone, I slid skillfully down the ladder hanging out my window. I added it to one of the bags when I pulled it down. I might need it later.

I wasn't allowed to park in the driveway, so my Jeep was always parked on the curb to the left of the driveway. It was gorgeous, rugged, black, and surprisingly quiet; thanks to some work I'd had done on it (I have my connections). I threw my stuff in the back and jumped into the driver's seat. I never looked back at my old house, no longer my home, as I pulled away from the curb and sped down the street.

All I had to do was get to Alex's house, then get both of us to the school. The problem I had to deal with now? Alex's mom didn't want her to go either. Time to break her out.


	2. Finally Free

"Alex!" I stage whispered, my voice sounding loud as it echoed through the silent night. I threw dirt from her lawn at her window, hitting it dead center, trying to get her attention.

I'd called her a week before with my plans of leaving, and she was packed and ready to go… hopefully.

"ALEX!!" I chucked more dirt at her window.

She looked out, saw me, and opened it.

"Are we leaving?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"DUH! Now hurry! We need to go now!!!!"

"'Kay! Throw me the ladder!" I'd already had it in my hand, so I tossed it lightly up to her with perfect aim. She dropped her bags down, not as quietly and carefully as me, and I hauled them over to the Jeep as fast as I could. Leave it to Alex to pack everything she owned.

When I turned back, she'd climbed down the ladder, and was just pulling it down so I got in the driver's seat and started the car. She hopped in a few moments later.

"This is fun!" She enthused while I put the car in drive.

"Yeah." I agreed weakly. I pulled away from the curb and accelerated 15 miles above the speed limit.

"You okay?" She inquired.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've been talking about this forever, I would expect you to be totally ecstatic right now! What's wrong?"

"I'm just…" I sighed. "Worried, about my sister, I mean. She always gets bullied when I'm not at school, and, well, you know she's kinda wimpy, and-"

"Oh c'mon! She'll be fine! She maybe 'wimpy,' but she's brave when she needs to be, and has a lot of common sense."

"I guess…"

It became silent, and I wasn't used to that, so I reached back and grabbed my iPod, then plugged it in to the Jeep.

After a half an hour or so, Alex fell asleep, but luckily, she didn't snore. Much.

But despite it all, I didn't feel tired, but free. I couldn't believe the staggering feeling of release that came instantly after Alex fell asleep.

Maybe this was a better idea than I thought.

************

We arrived on Monday, September 7, since it was Labor Day weekend. Because we never stop for an entire 24 hours, we cut off a days time. We expected to be there early Tuesday.

We went straight up to our dorm building and picked out the dorm we wanted, being two of the first people there. Since everyone got their own little room, boys and girl coexisted in the same buildings.

They whole day went by fast, since we toured the entire campus, which felt like a college, since it was so big! At the end of the day, I put on my black tank top and black and red plaid PJ pants after a 2 hour shower.

It felt good to finally get off my feet and settle into my bed, but I knew that the first day of school loomed like a gianourmas black could heading my way, but instead of worrying about that, I thought about the people.

Before I fell asleep, it had the strangest sensation. I kept hearing someone calling my name, and voice was so familiar, though I had never heard it before….


	3. 1st Period

The sound of my alarm clock was unnerving at 6:00 in the morning. I sat up abruptly, forgetting where I was at first. All it took was the unusually small room to make me remember. Oooh yes. School. I got up and dressed quickly, trying to make the day go by faster.

I was immediately glad I set my alarm really early, because I took forever trying to figure out what makeup I was going to wear. After a while I'd settled on light yellow eye shadow (to match my shirt) with black eyeliner, and a good coat of mascara.

I stepped back from the full-size mirror to make sure I got it all right.

I was kind of on the short side, okay, a lot on the short side. I was a junior in high school and I was only five foot one. On the plus side though, I had always been skinny. My hair was naturally jet black and perfectly straight just past my shoulders. I was wearing a yellow "To Write Love On Her Arms" tee, black and grey plaid skinny jeans and white double stack Creepers. My eyes had always been a strange colour. Grey. I like it, but my mom didn't. She said it was too unnatural. My sister, of course, had loved the colour though. My mother and sister also said I was breathtakingly beautiful, but I always ignored that, because I didn't want people saying that. I don't want to care about physical appearances. Alex had said so too, but just because she was close enough of a friend to not feel lesbian saying it.

I checked the clock. 7:00. Dang. School started at 7:20.

I pulled out the suitcase with all my school stuff in it, and threw it all in the backpack. I would organize it later... Maybe.

Three quick raps sounded on my door. "Haylie! Are you ready?" It was Alex.

"Yeah, just a second!" After putting my iPod and cell phone in my pockets, I slung my backpack over my arm and walked out of them room, trying to face the day with as much confidence as I could muster.

"Wow, you're actually ready on time!" She appraised when I closed the door behind me. Her black hair had an airy quality to it as it reached to her shoulder blades. She'd probably straightened it. Her shirt was pitch black, and she was wearing black short shorts and a dark gray belt. She striking green eyes were lined all the way around with black eyeliner. On her feet were black hightop converse, and, even wearing the flattest shoes in the world, she was over 3 inches taller than me.

I turned to face her. "Yeah, you're one to talk!" I mocked.

"I guess." She wouldn't admit to being wrong if her life depended on it, and this time she was very wrong. Miss procrastinator probably hadn't been to school on time once in her life.

We started our five minute walk to the school, focused on the sky. It was really cloudy, and looked like it was going to rain. I hoped it would end up being a thunder storm.

When we walked into our first class, we were greeted by 28 curious eyes, though there were 30 people in the class. I sighed internally. I thought by junior year we'd be done with this kind of stuff...

There were only 2 seats open, one in the very front, and one in very back. Better safe than sorry.

"I get the back seat." I whispered to Alex.

"Okay..." She answered absentmindedly. That surprised me, she used to always sit as far from the teachers as possible. I looked to see what had made her agree. Of course, it was a guy right next to the front open seat. Typical.

I rolled my eyes. As I set my stuff down at my seat in the back, I prayed to be treated like I'd been going here for years, but, I guess the teacher had other ideas.

"Okay, Haylie and... Alexandria, I believe. Please come up here so I may sign your schedules.

Alex had been flirting with the guy, and didn't notice at first that the teacher had called us up. I thumped her head as I walked by, and muttered, "Whore." She childishly stuck her tongue out at me and grabbed her schedule.

After I walked past her though, someone stuck their foot out in front of me, and I didn't realize this until it was too late. The room had been almost silent, so the only sound was the thud of my body smacking against the linoleum and the huff of air as it was forced out of my lungs. The entire class was laughing hysterically.

I wasn't embarrassed, no damage to my pride, or anything. These kind of things happen to everyone, but I didn't understand why it was so funny to everyone, until I looked up.

The teacher was right in front of me. I'd landed right at his feet, and he was MAD. His face was slowly turning into an odd shade of red, and his expression was livid. I scrambled to my feet, and looked at him apologetically. Some first impression.

He just put his hand out and Alex and I put our schedules in his hand, for me, regretfully. He silently signed the papers and handed them back, glaring at me. I ducked my head and watched my step cautiously as I made my way back to my desk in the back.

The teacher started his lecture, introducing himself as Mr. Larner, and I tried as well as I could to make it look like I was paying good attention. It was really hard to do when the movement of people turning around and snickering kept distracting me.

The girl on my left turned toward me, and I expected her to snicker like everyone else in this goddamm class, but instead she played friendly.

"Hey, you okay?" She whispered.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks."

"Good! I'm Rachel, by the way."

"I'm Haylie, you probably know that though."

"If you two girls are done gossiping back there, I'd like to continue the lesson." The teacher broke threw our apparently obvious conversing.

We both apologized, and I looked back at my desk, but Rachel pulled out a notebook, and started scribbling something down. While she was doing that, I saw the boy on my right glance at me. Rachel must've noticed too, because she scrubbed out whatever she had written and wrote something else.

The piece of paper slid on my desk, and, even though she was sitting right next to me, she had folded it into one of those star shapes. I always had problems trying to open these... Once I figured out its complex form, I tried to make out the creased letters. Eventually I was able to make the messy lines and scribbles form words.

_Gerard is staring at you!_

Oh boy...

_Is that the boy sitting next to me?_

_ Yes! _

_ Uh, he just glanced!_

_ Oh c'mon! It still has to mean something!_

_ I've only been in class for half an hour! It can't mean crap._

_ Can too. Isn't he hawt?_

_ Sorry Rachel, but I really don't care._

_ WHAT? Just look at him!_

_ Why are we passing notes about boys anyway?_

_ Because! Just look._

_ Why?_

_ I think he likes you!_

_ Oh sure. Any guy who is that easy isn't worth the effort._

_ You can hope!_

_ I'm more of a person who hopes for things worth hoping for._

_ ...Huh?_

_ Oh forget it._

_ C'mon, would it really hurt that much to look?_

_ No, but I'm content with not really stressing about it._

_ ...Are you lesbian?_

_ What? No. Just because I don't care if the guy sitting next to me is hot doesn't mean I'm a lesbian. I'm just not looking for the drama right now._

_ Eh, that's boring._

I didn't reply after that, the class was getting packed up, and I didn't want to talk about boys anymore. I neve cared about them as much as most girls do. Of course if a guy asked me out, I'd consider it, depending on who it was. I just wasn't going to go out of my way in a desperate search of a boyfriend.

I could tell already, Rachel meant trouble... I still should try to be nice. If she was popular, she would start a rumor spree, and those are never fun, for the one rumored about anyway.

The bell rang then, and I tried to escape from Rachel without being mean about it, but she followed me over to where Alex was.

I had to guess I would be seeing a lot of her today...


	4. Day One Done

I walked into my second period class and went straight to an open desk. People still stared. That was really gonna get old. It's like they've never seen a human being.

When the bell rang, the teacher picked up a transparent red clipboard and cleared her throat. "If I say your name wrong, please tell me. I have a reputation of reading names wrong."

And when she got to my name.

"Haylie Jenna?"

"Um here, but it's pronounced Jenee'"

"Did I ask you to correct me?"

"Um.. ye-"

"No, so stay quiet."

I would have objected more, but I'd already gotten myself into enough trouble, well, she had…

People around me were snickering. I just rose an eyebrow at the teacher when she turned away, then shook my head and smiled to myself. This class was bound to be entertaining. Because what's more fun than a teacher with short-term memory loss?

The teacher finished attendance and told us her name, which was Mrs. Davis. She gave us free time, and allowed us to used our iPods. So I sat there and zoned out with You Me At Six blaring from my earphones.

When I heard the bell faintly through the music, I wrapped the wires around the iPod and turned it off, but the teacher decided she wanted to make us late.

When people started to get up, she motioned them to sit down and said, "The bell doesn't dismiss you, I do." It was called a dismissal bell, right?

So she made us sit down until everyone was quiet, which took way longer than it needed to.

I sat there tapping my foot, knowing I was gonna end up late for my next class, which was literally all the way across the school.

She finally let us go, and I grabbed my bag and was off. I made it about a foot from my desk, and tripped over something.

"Damn it…" I muttered starting to get back up.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" a concerned male voice asked from above me.

I looked up to see a worried face framed with straightened medium length sandy blonde hair with black and white glasses looking down at me.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. "Yeah I'm fine."

He held out his hand and helped me to my feet. "I'm Mikey, by the way.

"Haylie."

"Oh, yeah the teacher got your name wrong right?"

"Yeah she did. And forgot she told us to tell her if she got it wrong."

He laughed. "Sorry I tripped you."

"It's alright. You know how legs are. Never can control 'em."

He laughed again at my joke. "True." He looked at the clock. "Oh, we should probably get to class."

I checked the clock too, then panicked. "Crap, I'm gonna be so late! I'll see ya later Mikey." I turned and sprinted out of the classroom.

People had stared at me when I ran down the hall, but I didn't care, I couldn't be late on my first day at my new school.

Because I was such a fast runner, and could run my fastest for a long time, I made to my class just before the bell rang.

Third period was boring, because I had to specify every single detail of what happened with Mikey to Rachel, which really wasn't much.

She gushed over how he'd laughed at my joke, about how that meant he probably liked me, but wouldn't most anyone laugh at a joke? That's the point right?

When the class ended, she said I should sit with her, because we were going to lunch next. We walked to the cafeteria together, her still gushing over the little details of everything. We got to the cafeteria when it was mostly full, but I was able to spot Mikey out of the crowd, and got away from Rachel without hurting her feelings. It was as simple as this, I said I was going to say hi, and she was too chicken to go near him.

"Hey Mikey." I greeted when I walked up to him.

"Oh, hey Haylie. You already got a seat for lunch?"

"Nah. I couldn't find a place." I lied smoothly.

"Oh, well then you should sit at my table with me and my friends!"

"Sure, why not?"

He led the way over to a mostly empty table, only occupied by four people. They were all talking to each other and no one else. It's seemed kind of like a scene from a movie to me.

I put the irrelevant thought out of my mind as we approached the table. Mikey out his food down and introduced me.

"Hey guys." He called attention to me standing next to him. The four guys looked up at him first, then at me, then at him, all at then same time. It was hilarious from my position, so I started to giggle, and when Mikey glanced at me, I waved him off.

"This is the new girl Haylie." He went on.

Must he refer to me as 'the new girl?'

Then he went through tell me their names. He seemed more awkward then I was, and I was the one who was new.

"This is Ray, Gerard, Bob, and Frank." He pointed them out as he said their name.

They all offered a quiet greeting when Mikey said their name, except for Frank. He had a loud greeting.

"You can sit next to Frank." Mikey suggested.

"'Kay." I walked the few steps to the open space next to Frank. I looked around for Alex, but since I couldn't see her, so I just sat down.

"You didn't get any food?" Frank asked.

"Nah. It all looked like something you would step on in a barn."

He laughed. "That's true. They usually have pretty good food though."

"Maybe it's because it's Monday."

"What would that have to do with it?" He joked.

"Monday is the worst day of the week to most people. I like Mondays though!"

He looked at me funny. "Why?"

"Well, one reason is because everyone's in a bad mood, so you can act complete crazy and no one cares. I do that anyway, but the other reason is that I always do laundry on Sunday, so I have new clean clothes!"

He laughed again. "Those are good reasons."

For the rest of lunch I had very random conversations with everyone at the table, switching from subject to subject.

When the bell did ring, no one moved. We had 7 minute passing periods and walking from class to class didn't take that long.

"Hey Haylie, what class do you have next?" Frank asked.

"I have Choir. I can't wait for that class!" I said dreamily.

"Really? Why?" He asked with a tone that said 'you're crazy!'

"I love singing! It's so fun!"

"If I wanted to sing, I would do it on my own time." He muttered.

"Oh, c'mon, party pooper! Let's go." I said, standing up.

I grabbed my bag and Frank got up too. He did most of the talking on the way to class. I was able to squeeze in a couple words, but he'd cut me off. It was almost funny.

When we got to the room it said on the schedule, I had trouble believing this was where our class was. It was so small. There was no way we were going to fit thirty plus people in that room.

Frank led us to a spot toward the back of the room and I wasn't sure why at first, until I saw Gerard was sitting there and there were two seats behind him open.

We sat there for a while, even after the bell rang. The teacher finally came in, 10 minutes late, stumbling over all the papers that were flying out of her hand. When she finally got a hold of her balance, she introduced herself as Ms. Flint.

"Okay class, I know you all are hating the lack of space in here, but I have good news! The school has given me permission to teacher in the cafeteria! So everyone pick up your bags and a chair and follow me!"

At first no one moved, but after a few seconds everyone was bumping into each other trying to get out with their stuff and a chair.

We all migrated to the cafeteria, a short two minute walk, and when we all got there everyone dropped the chairs and their stuff in random spots next to their friends. The teacher put her chair down nicely and grabbed a classic brown clip board.

"See now, isn't that better? So, let's take roll!" she added enthusiastically.

I had a hard time concentrating on my conversation with Frank and Gerard because out of the corner of my eye I could see Rachel watching my every move. Stalker, anyone?

So we all sat there for the rest of the class, and, in my case, I entertained Frank and Gerard with my trivial questions, such as is there such thing as bad enthusiasm and stuff like that.

So the rest of the day went on, following with a free period, which I also had with Frank and Gerard, with a bonus Alex and Mikey, and lastly was Gym, which I had with Alex. So, I was never alone. Yay!

BUT WAIT! That's not all! Dorm wise, Frank, Gerard and Mikey were in the same building as me and Alex.

So I was walking back to the dorm with Alex, with Frank lagging a bit, and when we got to the door, this random girl who I'd seen in one or two of my classes came running up enthusiastically to us.

"Hey, you guys are the new girls huh?" she enthused.

"Uh, yeah…" Alex said. It sounded like a question.

"Cool! I'm Illia by the way. I know it's weird, but my mom got it from a Legend of Zelda game. My friends and I we wondering if you guys wanted to hang out with us?" He tone was insanely polite.

"Sure!" I decided for Alex and myself.

"'K! Let's go!" She turned and started to go back inside. I began to follow her, but Alex jerked me back and kept us out of earshot as we followed.

"Hey! Don't I have a say?" She complained.

"No. And why so shy? You were totally popular at our old school!"

"Yeah, because everyone introduced everyone to me. I had nothing to do with it!"

"Oh lighten up. You'll live!"

She stayed silent until we got to a group of people where Illia stopped at. Illia led through a line of people for introductions. I guessed they'd done this before.

The people we met consisted of Kelsey who had thick, wavy, brown hair and brown eyes, Addy, and she had curly brown hair and light blue eyes, and Leena, who had ginger hair and dark hazel eyes. There was also Pheobe, who had brown and blonde streaked shoulder length hair and bluish eyes, and Demitra who had black hair a little longer than mine, and hazel eyes.

I decided to stay and hang out, always eager to make new friends, but Alex was totally uncomfortable. Eventually she bailed, after about 20 minutes.

When it was past dark, at about 8, I decided to go back up to my dorm and relax for the next hour. I took my iPod out of my pocket and my laptop out of one of my bags and got that set up. Then I simply turned on iTunes and play the whole library, starting with some You Me At Six.

I plopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I left my laptop on to play all night when I turned off the light and got under the covers to go to bed an hour later. I closed my eyes ready to go to sleep, and five minutes later, I realized I forgot to wash of my make-up.


	5. A Bad Dream

The girls that were lined up in front of me were all vaguely familiar. They were all the snobbish girls that followed Rachel around. In the middle of the group was Alex. Her hair had lots of blonde in it and she was wearing pink… lots and lots of pink… None of it seemed super weird, but something was off… I felt a bit angry, and a bit defensive. I felt like I did when someone was trying to tell me off or was arguing with me. I looked around me and Illia and Demitra were on my right, and Kelsey, Pheobe and Leena were on my left.

I was obviously confused about what was going on, but this wasn't the only thing that was bugging me, making the current situation a little irrelevant….

The nagging became a sort of discomfort, and it grew to a pain, and when I concentrated on it, it felt worse, and panic added on, and it kept growing stronger…

I sat up abruptly, feeling the panic and pain fade as my heart rate slowed. I tried my best to push the dream out of my mind.

The sky outside was the light bluish gray colour that still manages to be dark. I glanced at the clock on my desk. It said 5:32. That was a lot earlier than my usual 6:20. I was too flustered to try to go back to sleep, even though the dream left me feeling exhausted.

I grabbed my pair of my red skinny jeans and my DIY band tee to be my choice of attire that day. After I'd taken a shower, I went straight to the most fun part of getting ready, doing my make-up.

When I'd finished doing the morning thing it was 7:00, so I woke up my laptop and checked my email. I had a new email from Sara. Guilt trip time…

Haylie, wut school didja go 2 anyway? Ive been so bored l8ly! Mom doesnt do anything but yell n set restrictions n rules so I dont run off somewhere. Plus, ppl have been picking on me more! And I no u told me 2 yell and cuss em, but wut if mom finds out? And the bullies r so scary and mean. When will u come home? Plz write back!

Ugh, I hate it when people type like that unless the message is too long. Anyway, I told Alex this would happen…

Kay so number one, I can't tell you what school, Mom's account is connected to your's. And two, even if mom did find out about you cussing, she doesn't care. She doesn't WANT you to cuss but she never punished me for it. And I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm not gonna come back. I'll still write though.

I'm such a good influence huh?

"Haylie c'mon let's go!" Alex yelled through the door while pounding on it. I looked at the clock. 7:10. I rolled my eyes. I grabbed my stuff and walked out the room.

"Alex, we left at the same time yesterday, we aren't gonna be late."

"I still wanna get to class…" She muttered.

I decided she wanted to see that guy she was flirting with yesterday.

We got to class as expected, and I just made my way to the back to leave Alex up to whatever she was trying for.

I tried to say hi to Rachel when I got to my seat, but she flipped her head away from me a ways. I looked at her, perplexed by her sudden change in mood. What could she be mad about?

The period dragged. I couldn't seem to concentrate on what the teacher was saying. It was really hard to concentrate on anything at all, what with Rachel and her little minion up in the front both turning to glare at me every few minutes.

Rachel's little minion's name was Brenna. She had green eyes and unnaturally blonde hair. She also had the snobbiest face I'd ever seen.

When the bell finally rang an eternity later, I picked up my bag, and started to walk to the front of the room, but Rachel pushed past me and towed Alex away before I'd made 4 steps.

"Yo Haylie!" A voice called from behind me.

I turned and Illia, Kelsey, and Addy were walking my way.

"Oh hey!" I replied, pretending that I wasn't about to rip Rachel's head off.

"What do you have next?" Addy asked me.

"Um… Oh, I have English Honors."

"Heeey me too! C'mon let's go!" She pulled me away from everyone. SHE was in a good mood!

Demitra and Pheobe had that class with is, and they seemed surprised that I knew Mikey.

"You know him?" Demitra whispered after I greeted him.

"Yeah, why?" I retorted at regular volume.

"I don't know… His friends are a bit weird." Pheobe put in.

"They aren't weird their all pretty cool!" I defended.

"I don't know, they keep to themselves too much and there's a lot of rumors goin' around about them…" Demitra nodded to herself.

I was about to say rumors can't ever be believed, but the bell rang so we hurried to our desks.

The day went on pretty uneventfully. Choir, lunch, free period, all a bit boring. It would've been pretty nice, but our math teacher just had to go and give us a boat load of homework. So I got together with Demitra, Addy, Kelsey, Pheobe, and Illia and we all did it together. We were able to finish by 7:00, so we all just hung out for a while.

"Are you allergic to bees?" Demitra asked me randomly.

"Naw, I'm not allergic to anything."

"Oh, I am. I almost got stung today too.

Pheobe turned to Kelsey and said, "Punch that bee in the FACE!" Then the started laughing. I cocked my head a bit to the side.

"They really like Dane Cook." Addy informed me.

"Yeah, and it gets a bit OLD!" Demitra added in obviously trying to make a point. Then she thumped my ear. "Did that hurt?"

"Um… No? Why?"

"Watch." She smirked mischievously.

She turned slowly and lurched toward Kelsey to thump her, but Kelsey jumped away and yelled, "DON'T THUMP ME!"

"Did you just say don't fuck me?" Demitra gasped. Every stopped for a second, then burst out laughing.

"I said thump! Fuck off!" Kelsey defended.

"You so said fuck!" Pheobe giggled.

"I thought you said thump!" Illia intervened.

"Me too." I decided, still giggling though.

"THANK YOU! See, Haylie and Illia are better than all of you!"

"I already know I'm a bitch, so don't try that one." Demitra put in.

"Damn it all!" Kelsey pretended to be angry, but she obviously wasn't.

For the next hour or two everyone made fun of everyone like that, except they went easy on me because I was the "new girl."

When I finally went up to my dorm, I wondered where Alex was, she was supposed to do the math with us. I guessed she was probably with Rachel. She'd told me in gym that she didn't actually like her that much, but just being seen with her was getting her popular. I'd always side-stepped that mine field. Oh well. At least I knew she didn't like her. I hated to admit it, but it sorta made me feel better. Just knowing she wouldn't ditch.

Even then… I wasn't looking forward to the morning when I settled in with a book before going to bed…


	6. The Danger In Starting A Fire

I woke up an hour earlier than I had set my alarm for, around 5:45. I usually didn't mind waking up early, but when I had to go to school, it was annoying, especially when I hadn't anticipated the sleep I would be losing.

I could tell by 6:00 that it was going to be an insanely hot day, the temperature was already climbing to 70°. So, dressing according to weather, I wore a pair of waist high acid wash jean shorts and a tucked-in pale yellow tank top. As for my shoes, I kept it simple with my flat black canvas Vans. I did my makeup simple too, yellow eye shadow and black eyeliner.

I ended up with a lot of extra time, so I decided to turn on my laptop, pulled up iTunes, and shuffled the library, (the first song that played was 'You Should've Killed Me When You Had The Chance' by A Day To Remember). After that, I to checked my email to see if Sara had responded. She had.

_well if u arent comin home will u evr visit me? btw, did matt evr go on trips w/o his family? his car has been gone for 2 or 3 days now. jus wondering. i havent see him for a couple days either. and its his car thats been gone, not his parents car._

Matt is one of my best friends from Alabama, and he lived basically right across the street from me. He hated that town about as much as Alex and I had, but his mom was a single parent, and she worked all the time, so he had his little brother to take care of whenever she wasn't home. I told him I could pay for his fee to come to the school with us if he couldn't get the money with his job, but he said that wasn't the problem. If it was, though, he probably wouldn't have accepted the money anyway... Still, I wish he would've come with us...

_I might visit. Definitely not soon though. And Matt and his family used to go visit his grandmother a few towns over all the time, remember? He's probably up there, needed some chill time or something. I know I'm being one-tracked, but please make sure Mom has no clue that I'm talking to you. That would kind of be disastrous._

I hit send and checked the clock. 6:44. Now what was I supposed to do? It was still way to early to leave for school, by about 30 minutes. Knowing Alex, she was probably just waking up, last minute, as always. I probably wouldn't see much of her today anyway.

It was then that my guitar popped into my head. I'd completey forgotten I'd brought it! I jumped up from my desk chair and grabbed my guitar from under my bed, where I'd put it my first day here. It was still safely stowed away in its hard case that was covered in stickers. I unlatched the case and pulled out the guitar.

It wasn't fancy, it was from a brand called Avalon, not really huge. The sides of the body and the neck we're a red colour, actually more red than brown, and the front of the body was light tan, the fret board was the only dark part, just brown. I'd only had to take it to a shop once, because I didn't like how far the strings were from the fretboard. (that's called the action, for those who don't know.)

I sat back up on my bed and put the guitar in my lap, about to play, but I paused to see if the dorm building was still quiet. Lucky for me, it sounded like everyone was up, so I grabbed my capo from the case, clamped it on to the second fret, and started playing Remembering Sunday by All Time Low.

I won't say I'm the best guitarist in the world, but I knew my stuff. I had a large repitore of songs I could play off the top of my head, and was getting pretty good at being able to play songs by ear, though sometimes I had trouble figurig out certain chords. I'd been playing for about a year and a half, mostly because I'd been focused on my voice and piano. But the instant I decided I wanted to play guitar, I spent $60 on this one at a swap meet. I didn't fix the action right away, I thought it was just somethig I'd have to deal with, but after I told a few people about it, they explained what was up and helped direct me to a good shop.

When I finished Remembering Sunday, I went on to play Oasis by Wonderwall, Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls, Straightjacket Feeling, by the All American Rejects, and a few other songs that I knew until Kelsey knocked on my door.

"Haylie, you ready?" She yelled.

"Yeah, one sec. You can come in ya know," I laughed, getting up.

She opened the door and caught sight of my guitar. "Ooo, you play?" Addy and Illia walked up behind her, and I caught sight of Phoebe and Leena running over, as well. I guess I had a whole group of people to walk with now!

"Naw, I just brought it so I can look at it. Yes, I play." I said, poking my tounge out.

Illia jumped in. "What songs do you know?"

I put the guitar in the case and relatched it. "I dunno, lot's of stuff." I shoved the case back under my bed.

"Can you play Stop and Stare?" Addy asked. (that's by OneRepublic)

"Mmm, yeah." I picked up my backpack and faced them again. "We gonna go? Y'all can quiz on the way there if you want."

They took me up on that offer, asking if I knew this song, or that, how long I'd been playing, if I'd bring it out after school to play it. I said I would, but hoped they'd forget. It's not like I'd been playing for years, after all.

I realized that I was in a great mood today when I walked into class with Illia, Addy, and Kelsey. Warm weather did that to me, as did music. And somehow, I managed to coax the girls into meeting Gerard, and I convinced them that he wasn't 'weird,' at least not in the weird they expected, before the bell rang. I barely even noticed when Alex and Rachel walked in, and was able to ignore her when she caught sight of me and started laughing like Alex had said the funniest thing ever.

About 15 minutes into class, in the middle of the teacher's lecture that I was trying my hardest to take notes on, a folded up piece of paper landed on my desk. I looked up and saw Alex turned around when the teacher was facing the board, pointing at the note, then to herself, telling me that I was from her. I nodded and unfolded the little square until I found the writing. It read:

_Sorry, I didn't walk to school with you today. Ya know, Rachel. I'll try and find you at lunch today, hopefully Rachel-less. :)_

Somehow, as small as this gesture was, it made me feel a little better, told me that Alex didn't want to be dragged around by Rachel, and that she wasn't going to ditch me because Rachel wanted her to. I looked up and gave Alex the thumbs up, which she returned with a smile before facing the teacher again.

The rest of class went by thankfully quick after I returned my attention to my notes. When the bell rang, Rachel jumped up (she'd packed her things 5 minutes ago and sat there like she was about to start a race) and hurried over to Alex, pushing her out of the room. I shrugged this off. When things got this childish, I let them slide. I mean, that was a little pathetic, albeit hilarious.

"Haylie, let's gooo!" Addy came bouncing up to me.

I laughed and packed the last of my things. "Alright, alright." This is why I liked being around other energetic people.

Even if I was already happy, energetic people put me in impossibly better moods.

The next to classes went by easily, I had Addy, Mikey, Demitra and Phoebe all with me in second period, and Kelsey and Leena in third. Then lunch came around, and as I was walking to the cafeteria, I started wondering if Alex was going to evade Rachel.

I'd ruled this possibility out when I reached the entrance, but when I touched the handle, I heard my name being called, and turned.

"Haylie!" Alex was running in my direction, holding random papers and her textbook, barely keeping them in her arms.

I started laughing. "Oh my god, Alex! Is this really what you have to do to get away?" When she reached me, I took the textbook from her so she could organized the papers. "Damn, she must be harder to shake than I thought." I unzipped her backpack ad put the textbook in.

Alex brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. "Yeah, haha, now let's go before she finds me."

"Good plan." I nodded, and we entered the cafeteria and got in line for food. "You alright? You look a little flustered."

She put the last of her papers in her bag. "Yeah, I'm just not the best runner."

I chuckled. "I guess I know that."

She stuck her tounge out at me and put her hair into a ponytail.

We got our food and started heading to the table. Alex looked a little nervous, but I told her to perk up. It's not like she'd never met people before, and she already knew Gerard, Frank and Mikey. So, as predicted, she made it through meeting the others, and they welcomed her easily, just as they had with me.

I was surprised though, when, a few minutes into lunch, Leena came walking up to the table, like it wasn't even a thing wrong.

"Hey Haylie!" She greeted. "Um, I don't know anyone else that has this lunch... Is it okay if I sit here?"

I looked at they guys, and they said they didn't mind, so I turned to Leena. "Of course! You can sit wherever."

She set her tray on the opposite side of the table from me, and started introducing herself to anyone. That was a lot easier than Alex had been.

"So, Haylie," Leena started, picking up a french fry from her tray, "you still up to playing your guitar after school?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

Uggghhh... I tried to shush her, but all eyes were already on me.

Frank spoke first. "You play guitar?"

"Yeeeah..." I tried to sound like it was nothing, but everyone acted like it was something.

"You any good?" Ray joked.

I shrugged. "I guess. I've been playing for a year and a half, so I'd hope so!" I laughed.

Alex glared at me playfully. "You didn't tell me you were playing for everyone."

I scoffed. "Sorry, this is the first time I've gotten to talk to you today."

"What else can you play?" Mikey chipped in, taking a drink of his water bottle.

"Uh, well..." I didn't like this. I was totally put on the spot, and I didn't want to just start spewing the names of instruments that I could play...

Alex rolled her eyes and turned to Mikey. "Let's see, she plays guitar, she's amazing at piano, a little bass guitar, ukulele, drums... And of course, she's amazing at singing." She counted them off on her fingers.

Oh Alex, you always know what to say to make me feel like a total asshole.

The table went silent, all eyes on me once again, and I glared at Alex, who answered it with a smug grin.

Frank aparently had a special gift for breaking awkward silences. "So, uh... You brought your guitar then?"

I nodded. "It's an acoustic. I sold my electirc before I came here."

Leena popped in then. "And you're playing it for us after school." It wasn't a question.

"I guess I am." I sighed, and Leena's face lit up.

"Yay!" She threw a fry at my face.

"Wha-... What was that for?" I couldn't help but laugh though.

"I dunno." She went on eating.

I picked the fry up out of my lap and ate it, happy for the subject of my "musical prowess" to be over. At least for me. Everyone else was talking about being there to hear me play. I kept out of the conversation so finished my lunch, dreading the last bell, only looming a few hours away.

* * *

HAY GUISE! Sorry, I'm hyper. So, what'd you guys think? I love to hear from y'all, if there's even anyone reading. TYPOS! Please let me know about any typos that I could fix, and grammar. I'm usually REALLY good about grammar, but I have my moments. So review, and tell me about typos... Maybe some storyline suggestions? I have a lot of details chipped out, but ideas are always nice. :)


	7. Lazy Day Afternoon

Quick Disclaimer... I do not own ANY of the songs used in this chapter. Not a single one.

Songs used...

Remembering Sunday - All Time Low

Stop and Stare - OneRepublic

Glycerin - Bush

Misguided Ghost - Paramore

There's an amazing story behind this chapter. Okay, it's not amazing. But this chapter has been sitting in a notebook for somewhere around four years. I know, I should win the procrastinating award. Hey, at least I stick with my stories! No matter what. And trust me, this chapter has changed immensely in the time of four years. It was a LOT shorter, like it was part of chapter six, that short. But when a demo on Haylie's iPod changed to her playing guitar, it kinda took on it's own chapter. I REALLY hope y'all enjoy this one, it's one of _my _favorite chapters. So I'll stop bugging you! ENJOY!

* * *

"Haylie! Hurry up!" Alex yelled as she tried to make me run by pushing me forward.

"Nooo!" I protested. "C'mon, we're gonna get to the dorm either way. Why do we have to rush it?" I looked back behind me and saw that everyone else was itching to hear me play that guitar. Frank was kinda bouncing as he talked to Gerard and Mikey animatedly, and all the girls were crowded up behind Alex, like walking right behind her would automatically make her go faster. I rolled my eyes. "Why is this such a huge deal to you guys?"

Kelsey answered me. "We wanna hear you play! It'll brighten up a bad day at school... If you're good." She added jokingly.

"Thanks." I laughed.

When we reached the dorm, Alex urged me up the stairs and told me they'd be waiting outside on the east side of the building. There was a little patio out there where we could hang out, and of course, I could play.

I actually started running when I got upstairs, with the horrible realization that I was kind of enjoying this. No one had ever cared that I was really into music, let alone played an instrument, and now, here, almost everyone did. It was cool to know I had friends here who wanted me to play for them.

I unlocked my door in a hurry and practically dove under the bed to grab my guitar, who I'd named Phil. (I know it sounds lame that I named my guitar, but I don't care.) With the case in my hand, I rushed out of the room, relocked the door behind me, and headed out for the patio, almost falling down the stairs on the way there.

"Hey guuuuyyysss!" Alex said in a singsongy voice when I came outside. "Haylie's heerrree!"

The atmosphere almost buzzed with anticipation as people moved to give me a spot to sit in the circle they'd created. Gerard sat to my immediate right, and Frank had made a point of sitting by me to my left. Some people sat in chairs, but most sat on the floor with me.

I unlatched the case and pulled out my guitar, and some people "oo"ed and "ahh"ed. I laughed and put my guitar on my lap, ready to play.

"Soo..." I started awkwardly, "any...uh... requests?"

People started talking at the same time, trying to agree on a song. Eventually Illia turned towards me from across the circle. "You said you know Remembering Sunday this morning, right?"

"Yeah. It's one of my favorite to play." I nodded. Everyone looked at me expectantly. "Uh, do you guys want me to sing too?"

The response was a chorus of duh's and of course's and well yeah's!

I laughed. "Okay! Okay. But y'all gotta join in if you know it."

Everyone agreed, and I started playing.

_He woke up from dreaming and put on his shoes  
__Started makig his way past two in the morning  
__He hasn't been sober for days._

C'mon, you guys obviously know this! Join in!

_Leaning now, into the breeze  
__Remembering Sunday, he falls to his knees  
__They had breakfast together  
__But two eggs don't last like the feeling of what he needs._

_Now this place seems familiar to him.  
__She pulled on his hand with a devilish grin.  
__She led him upstairs, she led him upstairs  
__Left him dying to get in._

_Forgive me I'm trying to find  
__My calling, I'm calling at night.  
__I don't mean to be a bother but have you seen this girl?  
__She's been running through my dreams  
__And it's driving me crazy it seems.  
__I'm gonna ask her to marry me._

Someone was singing really well, I could to pick it out from everyone else. It was coming from my right. As I continued playing, I tried to figure out who it was.

_Even though she doesn't believe in love  
__He's determined to call her bluff.  
__Who could deny these butterflies?  
__They're filling his gut_.

_Waking the neighbors  
__Unfamiliar faces  
__He pleads and he tries but he's only denied.  
__Now he's dying to get inside._

_Forgive me I'm trying to find  
__My calling, I'm calling at night.  
__I don't mean to be a bother but have you seen this girl?  
__She's been running through my dreams  
__And it's driving me crazy it seems.  
__I'm gonna ask her to marry me._

With a start, I realized it was Gerard who was doing the amazing singing. I looked over at him fleetingly, but his eyes were closed.  
My heart stuttered a little.

_The neighbors said she moved away.  
__Funny how it rained all day.  
__I didn't think much of it then but it's starting to all make sense.  
__Oh I can see now  
__That all of these clouds are  
__Following me in my desprate endevour  
__To find my whoever  
__Wherever she may be._

_I'm not coming back.  
__I've done something so terrible.  
__I'm terrified to speak but you'd expect that from me.  
__I'm mixed up I'll be blunt now the rain is just  
__Washing you out of my hair.  
_

Almost everyone's voice dropped off, and those who I still heard were a very quite falsetto, but I kept my voice going strong.

_And out of my mind.  
__Keeping an eye on the world.  
__So many thousands of feet off the ground.  
__I'm over you now I'm at home in the clouds  
__Towering over your head._

Everyone joined back in.

_I guess I'll go home now  
__I guess I'll go home now  
__I guess I'll go home now  
__I guess I'll go home._

"AUGH that was awesome!" Kelsey spoke first.

I laughed, then Illia spoke, "Yeah, Haylie, how do you hit those notes in Juliett Simms' part so well?" **(Sorry if I spelt her name wrong)**

I hesitated while everyone agreed. "Well, I guess... uh, I wanna pursue a career in music, specifically singing, so I focus on my voice a lot... Um, anyway, any other requests?" I added to take the attention off me for a moment. While everyone was discussing, I turned to Gerard. "Hey, you sing really well."

His eyes widened. "You could hear me?"

I laughed. "Well yeah, you're sitting right next to me. Seriously, you're really good."

He looked down, embarrassed, and my heart took another jolt.

"Hey Haylie!" Leena called my attention.

"Yup?"

"Do you know Stop and Stare, OneRepublic?"

Kelsey started bouncing.

"Yeah, is that what you want me to play?"

I got some agreement, so I went on and played it.

_This town is colder now, I think its sick of us  
__It's time to make our move, I'm shaking off the rust  
__I've got my heart set on anywhere but here  
__I'm staring down myself,counting up the years  
__Steady hands, just take the wheel  
__Every glance is killing me  
__Time to make one last appeal  
__For the life I lead_

_Stop and stare  
__I think I'm moving but I go nowhere  
__Yeah I know that everyone gets scared  
__But I've become what I can't be, oh_

_Stop and stare  
__You start to wonder why you're here not there  
__And you'd give anything to get what's fair  
__But fair ain't what you really need  
__Oh, can you see what I see_

_They're trying to come back, all my senses push  
__Untie the weight bags, I never thought I could  
__Steady feet, don't fail me now  
__Gonna run till you can't walk  
__Something pulls my focus out  
__And I'm standing down_

_Stop and stare  
__I think I'm moving but I go nowhere  
__Yeah I know that everyone gets scared  
__But I've become what I can't be, oh_

_Stop and stare  
__You start to wonder why you're here not there  
__And you'd give anything to get what's fair  
__But fair ain't what you really need  
__Oh, you don't need  
__What you need, what you need_

_Stop and stare  
__I think I'm moving but I go nowhere  
__Yeah I know that everyone gets scared  
__But I've become what I can't be  
__Oh, do you see what I see  
_

I got a little applause for that one, and Pheobe blurted out, "GLYCERINE!"

"By Bush?" I asked.

She nodded violently.

_Must be your skin that I'm sinkin in  
__Must be for real, cuz now I can feel  
__I didn't mind, it's not my kind  
__Not my time to wonder why  
__Everything's gone white  
__And everything's grey  
__Now your here now your away  
__I don't want this  
__Remember that  
__I'll never forget where your at  
_

_Don't let the days go by  
__Glycerine  
__Glycerine_

_I'm never alone, I'm alone all the time  
__Are you at one  
__Or do you lie  
__We live in a wheel  
__Where everyone steals  
__But when we rise it's like strawberry fields  
__If I treated you bad, you bruise my face  
__Couldn't love you more  
__You got a beautiful taste_

_Don't let the days go by  
__Could've been easier on you  
__I coudn't change although I wanted to  
__Should have been easier by three  
__Our old friend fear and you and me.  
__Glycerine  
__Glycerine_

_Don't let the days go by  
__Whoahohoho  
__Whoaohohohwuhoh  
__Glycerine  
__Glycerine_

_Bad mood white again  
__Bad mood white again  
__Bad mood white again  
__And she falls around me._

_I needed you more  
__When we wanted us less  
__I could not kiss, just regress  
__It might just be  
__Clear simple and plain  
__Well that's just fine  
__That's just one of my names._

_Don't let the days go by  
__Could've been easier on you you you  
__Glycerine  
__Glycerine  
__Glycerine  
__Glycerine_

Everyone started shouting songs that time, but I stopped them. "Guys, I really wanna play one song!"

"What is it?" Illia asked

"Misguided Ghosts."

"The Paramore song?" Kelsey asked.

I nodded, and started the song.

_I'm going away for a while  
__But I'll be back, don't try and follow me  
__'Cuz I'll return as soon as possible  
__You see, I'm trying to find my place  
__But it might not be here where I feel safe  
__And we all learn to make mistakes  
__And run from them, from them  
__With no direction  
__Run from them, from them  
__With no conviction_

_'Cuz I'm just one of those ghosts  
__Traveling endlessly  
__Don't need no roads  
__In fact they follow me  
__And we just go in circles_

_But now I'm told that this life  
__And pain is just a simple compromise  
__So we can get what we want out of it  
__Would someone care to classify?  
__A broken heart and twisted minds  
__So I can find someone to rely on_

_And run to them, to them  
__Full speed ahead  
__Oh, you are not useless  
__We are just misguided ghosts  
__Traveling endlessly  
__The ones we trusted the most  
__Pushed us far away  
__And there's no one road  
__And we should not be the same  
__But I'm just a ghost  
__And still they echo me_

_They echo me in circles_

When I finished the song, Illia raised her hand. I laughed, "Yes Illia?"

"Why'd you wanna play that song?"

I paused, then answered. "Well, it really describes why I left home and came here." I shrugged. "I guess it means a lot to me."

I saw Gerard examining my face, but I tried to focus on Illia's reaction, who nodded thoughtfully before the suggestions for more songs came roaring in. I sighed, mostly out of feeling awkward that'd I'd told everyone why I chose the song, and involintarily looked over at Gerard. We locked eyes, and he smiled and nodded at me.

My heart fluttered again, but what I noticed over that was the feeling of belonging. I belonged with people like these, and it turns out Gerard had understood completely what I had said the last song meant to me.

I grinned back at him, feeling incredibly grateful that I'd found someone who could connect to music like I could, and maybe who I could even connect to through music. Pheobe called my attention back, and gave more songs for me to play.

...

After a few hours, the guitar started getting passed around. Turns outFrank and Ray could play amazingly, and Leena knew a few songs. Mikey, at some point, informed us he could play bass. By the time the guitar was back in my hands, the circle had turned into a hang out session, and everyone was talking comfortably. I started playing a song I'd written quietly, more intended for background noise, and turned to Gerard.

"So, Ray and Frank play guitar, you sing, Mikey plays bass. I'm putting puzzle pieces together!" I started.

Gerard laughed and looked at his hands in his lap. "Well if what you're thinking is that we have a band, you'd be right."

"That_'s _so _awesome_!" I smiled uncontrollably. "I used to be in a band, actually I've been in a few, but... you know, I left."

He looked up at me. "Did you usually sing?'

I blushed. "Yeah. Most people assume I would play guitar. You're the first to say that." I looked up at the now darkening sky. "Alex actually played drums in a few of them, guitar in one." Something popped in my head. I looked back at Gerard. "Oh! I actually did play guitar in one."

He laughed. "Who convinced you to do that?"

"My friend Matt. Why'd you say it like that?" I joked.

"Well, if you want to pursue a career in singing, I assume you had to think about the possibility that that would be the band that made it big, and you'd kinda be stuck as a guitarist."

I nodded. "Damn, you must be a mind reader or something."

He shrugged. "Just observant, I guess."

I paused. "Well, it wouldn't have been horrible to be a guitarist. I love it all the same. But..." I sighed. "I guess I trusted Matt to forgive me if it got to that point, because I'd eventually want to be in a band where I could sing. A.K.A. eventually I'd leave." I paused again. "Maybe... maybe I was a little selfish, because if that band _had _made it big, I was planning on using it as a head start on my singing career..."

"That's not being selfish..." Gerard murmured, looking at the rising moon.

"It kinda was. I was planning on using the band as a jump start, I wasn't as serious about my part in the band..." I sighed.

"Your friend Matt... Did he know you wanted to bea vocalist?"

"Yeah..."

"Then he probably would've understood." Gerard said lightly.

I laughed. "I guess you're right. Now enough about me and my musical past."

"Oh no, I'm not going to start talking about me." He crossed his arms in mock defiance.

"Oh c'mon! I told you my story!" I stopped playing the guitar to tug at his left arm.

"Nope." He changed that subject. "Hey, what was song you were just playing?"

I grimaced. "It was something I wrote."

"Really? What was it called?"

I glared at him playfully. "You weren't gonna tell me your story!"

"No, and I'm still not planning on it. What was it called?"

I giggled. "Alright, it was called 'Gone Away.'"

"Do mind me asking what it's about?"

I hesitated. "Uh..."

Gerard backtracked. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to! Sorry."

"Oh, no no! It's okay. Um... It's about the first year after my father died."

Gerard paused, gauging what to say so he wouldn't offend me. "I'm so sorry."

I put my hands up. "No! It's okay! I don't need a pity party. You asked what it was about!" I shook my head. "Trust me, I don't want the sypathetic pity look. I get that enough!"

Gerard laughed. "Fine, I won't give it to you."

There was a short silence, and I started playing my song again before I spoke. "You're probably curious how he died, yeah?"

He shrugged. "I don't want to bug you about it."

I rolled my eyes. "Eh, it's not bugging me. I just know you won't ask." I paused, then went on. "He was an archeologist, and he was on a job in Egypt. I know, kind of unorigional, but he was there. He and his team were checking out a tomb, and they didn't have enough support for the ceiling. It caved in, almost without notice..." My voice dropped off at the end, and I thought back to my mother, who only had one immediate family member left with her, and I started feeling guilty.

"Normally," Gerard started slowly, "I'd say I'm sorry again, but you don't want that, right?"

I chuckled. "Right. No pity parties."

I locked eyes with him, and I could feel that he didn't want to pity me, but he would respect what I would and wouldn't talk about. I laughed and said, "You know what? You're awesome."

Then he laughed. "Are we just going to start spewing random complements now?"

"No, I just wanted to say that."

Gerard opened his mouth to say something, but we heard a thunderous car rolled up to the parking lot to the dorm, which was on the same side of the building as us. The headlights flashed across the group, catching everybody's attention.

I looked at the car, an old beat up Ford Focus, puzzled. "Who would show up this late?"

Gerard looked as confused as I was.

The driver side door opened, and a _very _familiar person stepped out.

Alex and I reacted at the same time. "_MATT_?"

* * *

OH NO! A CLIFFY! Don't worry, I already know how the next chapter goes (fer the most part), so writing it SHOULD be a piece of cake. OH MY GOD I'm so excited that youz guyz get to meet Matt. He's kind of a recurring OC of mine, although most people don't realize it. He's either a pretty good sized part of a story, or has a tiny cameo or something, sometimes by a different name. But I love him, and he's the bees knees. Jeez, I use a lot of 1920s slang, don't I? (If you don't know what I'm referring to, in my summary for my Vampire Knight story, A.K.A. Believe Me, I use the cat's pajamas.)

Also, I LOVE GERARD SO MUCH! XD I hope I didn't make him too out of character or anything, but I don't think it's too bad if I did. Besides, there's many Gerard interpretations on this site. The quiet, reserved antisosh, the loud, funny S.O.B.. I think I found a happy medium.

Thanks for reading! Review, inform me of typos, you know, the normal stuff. I think I did a good job proofreading, but the last time I thought that, I found "coould" instead of "could", and "the" instead of "they" in the first paragraph of a chapter. So yeah. 8D


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